Aracelis Ortiz

Just like in a F2F course, an online course can create certain challenges.  It is important to have a record system in place to keep yourself organized and to know how to deal with the different personalities of students.  

I learned that synchronous online learning is intended to be short with a small group but considering the current pandemic has caused school closures and all teachers from k-12 grade to go to online learning it may difficult to keep sessions short and small.  Teachers will have to teach content in a synchronous manner to younger children becasue some do not have the ability to do it on their own or with the help of a parent.  Social learning is very important for younger students therefore finding the right mix between synchronous and asynchronous learning will be crucial.

Evne though the course is online it is important to build a relationship with your students.  The same strategies used to build relationships with students in a F2F classroom may be applied to online instruction.  The instructor must project themselves over the computer in order to help students feel at ease and help them get to know each other.

Support for both learning and tech is very important in order for students to feel confortable learning online.  As the instructor, you need to figure out what structure is going to work best for your students, therefore it is important to get to know your students but also know the software and progrmas that are to be used during the online course.

As the instructor, it is important for you to activley engage studnets in different ways and provide timely feedback.

Synchronus and asynchronus learning both have their advantages and disadvantages.  I beleive it is important for each teacher to decide what will work best for his/her students but I have also found that a combination of both has worked best for me.  Students and their families need to feel supported by the instructor and many times with asynchronus learning that can be difficult.  When working with younger students it is very difficult to get them all online at the same time but they enjoy seeing their teacher and interacting with each other.  Which ever method one decides to use it… >>>

There are many tools that an instructor can use for online learning but the instructor must research and assess the tools inorder to make sure they are affective what the instructor is teaching and appropriate for their students.